Much literature exists on the specific aspects of native language sound structure that are difficult for non-native speakers, and to what extent features of a native language may interfere with learning correct pronunciation in a second language. This work is rooted in Uriel Weinreich's notion of interference and is developed in more recent works into Terence Odlin's and Larry Selinker's concepts of language transfer and interlanguage. “Languages in Contact,” Uriel Weinreich, (1968); “Language Transfer,” Terence Odlin, (1989); “Rediscovering Interlanguage,” Larry Selinker, (1992). From the pedagogical side, Avery and Ehrlich's “Teaching America English Pronunciation” and Celce—Murcia et al's “Teaching Pronunciation” are two reference materials which provide insight into the structure of English phonology and phonetic's, the implications it has for the learning of pronunciation, and how it interacts with a speakers' linguistic backgrounds. “Teaching American English Pronunciation,” Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich, (1992); “Teaching Pronunciation,” Marianne Celce—Murcia, Donna M Brinton, and Janet M Goodwin, (1996). However, none of the literature quantifies the difficulty that a non-native speaker of a particular non-native language background would have in pronouncing a given utterance of the native language.
The present invention is directed to solving one or more of the above-listed problems.